Currently the bill applies to forty eight different tribes, all of which have historic ties to Colorado, but were relocated to Wyoming and other states. Currently 27 percent of American Indian households are living below the federally recognized poverty level, according to recent data from the US Census Bureau.

“Many of these young people could be contributing to our state’s economy and aren’t,” Salazar said. “I’m happy that a bipartisan group of my colleagues agree that this will attract talented students to Colorado’s higher education institutions and address the economic hardships that are being experienced by American Indian families.”

“Ms. Humetewa’s service to the Hopi Nation, which includes work as prosecutor and an appellate court judge to the tribe, runs deep and has remained a cornerstone of her career,” Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), who introduced Humetewa and five other Arizona judicial nominees at the hearing. “She is also a long-time advocate for victim’s rights, which can be traced back to her service as a victim advocate before she attended law school.”

U.S. Department of Education Office of Indian Education in partnership with the United South and Eastern Tribes Inc. (USET) and The National Indian Education Association (NIEA) will be holding a:

Tribal Consultation Session

DATE: February 5, 2014

Crystal Gateway Marriott

1700 Jefferson Davis Hwy

Arlington, VA 22202

Phone: (703) 920-3230

ROOM: Salon A

TIME: 10:15am-4:45pm EST

This session is designed to provide tribal leaders with an opportunity to voice their thoughts and engage with senior officials from the Department on the following issue:

The United States Department of Education is considering making changes to two of the Office of Indian Education discretionary grant programs. The Department will be seeking input on the Indian Education Professional Development (PD) Grant Program, and the State Tribal Education Partnership (STEP) Grant Program.

For onsite/virtual registration and more information, please go to: www.edtribalconsultations.org * Webinar will be recorded and will be played again on February 6, 2014

Still, residents of Lame Deer should be able to have the same expectations of good schools as any other Montana resident. Citizens shouldn’t discount outrage just because the problem happened on the reservation.

An attorney for the National Center for Youth Law said the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights has opened an investigation into allegations of ongoing racial discrimination against Native America students by staff in the Loleta Union School District.

The center and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California joined with California Indian Legal Services to make the request in December. The American Civil Liberties Union also filed a federal lawsuit in December against Eureka City Schools, alleging pervasive and systemic racism and sexism in the district.

According the complaint, staff at Loleta Elementary School allegedly physically assaulted Native American students, including allegations the superintendent twisted their ears while saying “See how red it’s getting?”, used racial slurs in front of Native American students and routinely suspended or expelled Native American students for minor behavioral infractions.

An earlier post we had on this is here. It is good to see the OCR is opening an investigation into these allegations. We have also recently posted this subject here and here.